'How we are keeping Kingston's children and adults safe and the borough green'

This is particularly visible in our Adult Social Care and Children’s services, as an increasing number of adults and children are in need of support, some of them with very complex needs. As the number of people in need is rising, so is the cost to provide the services. Kingston is not immune to these challenges.

Over the past eight years, we have managed the finances of our borough well, despite all these challenges. We are always putting residents at the heart of what we do and we continue to deliver good quality services, as the Local Government Association peer review we had last year acknowledged.

One of my proudest moments last year was when our Children’s Services were awarded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. This judgement reflects our commitment to our children and young people across the borough, ensuring that they have a fair start in life. This includes the more than 1,000 children and young people receiving social care support.

I was similarly proud that our Adult Social Care Services were rated ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC particularly commended us for our focus on prevention and on how we help people to live their lives independently for as long as possible. Over 1,600 adults with long term care needs are cared for by the council and it was a wonderful moment to see external recognition for the hard work we do.

Building new homes at Acre Road in Kingston (Image: ken frakes)

As well as delivering social care support for adults and children, we are supporting around 1,000 homeless families and individuals from the borough with temporary accommodation.

Alongside this work to ensure people in need can access help, we continue to work for all our residents. We have delivered nearly 400 modern and sustainable council homes across the borough, with more to follow over the next few years.

We will continue to look after our parks and green spaces to provide pleasant places for residents seeking to enjoy the outdoors. Last year, three parks – Canbury Gardens, Churchfields Recreation Ground and Fishponds Park – received the Green Flag Award, an internationally recognised quality mark. And a couple of weeks ago, our longstanding commitment to protect and enhance our green spaces culminated in the release of three cows at Tolworth Court Farm, as part of our Rewilding Tolworth Project.

We will continue with our financially prudent approach and we will continue to deliver for Kingston and its residents. The budget will support our ongoing projects to build more council homes, to deliver more family and community hubs, to enhance our green spaces, to support our most vulnerable residents, to deliver a children’s home, to reduce our carbon foodprint, to strengthen our cultural and leisure offer across the borough as well as to deliver the new Kingston leisure centre. And it will enable us to continue to deliver good services for all residents across the borough.